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Article published In: Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 60:3 (2025) ► pp.217–252

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Article

Locating Chinese L2 interactional competence and intercultural communicative competence in turn management

ORCiD logo with link | Stony Brook University
Published online: 19 January 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.25004.wan
Abstract
This study examines the interactional competence (IC) and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) of beginner Chinese L2 learners through interactional engagement. Through conversation analysis (CA) of oral assessment transcripts and video recordings of two high-scoring (HS) and two low-scoring (LS) students, the study identifies key differences. HS students collaborate more effectively with the interlocutor, completing conversational sequences and employing a variety of repair strategies. LS students, by contrast, display more delayed or misaligned next actions and rely more on other-initiated repairs. Both groups experience overlaps, but HS students use them for collaborative engagement, while LS students’ overlaps more often result from delayed turn-taking. Clarification sequences appear only among HS students. ICC-related behaviors emerge when participants orient to culturally relevant practices, such as address terms or role-appropriate responses. These findings demonstrate that communicative competence extends beyond grammar and pronunciation. Turn and sequence management reflect participants’ moment-by-moment orientations to both interactional and intercultural contingencies.
摘要
从话轮管理中定位汉语二语互动能力与跨文化交际能力
本研究从逐时展开的情景互动出发，对初级汉语二语学习者的互动能力(interactional competence, IC)与跨文化交际能力(intercultural communicative competence, ICC)进行微观分析。采用会话分析方法(conversation analysis, CA)，本文对口语测评中两名得分最高(HS)的学习者和两名得分最低(LS)的学习者的情景互动视频录音进行了分析，识别出若干关键差异。结果显示，高分学习者能够更有效地与对话者协同完成互动过程，顺利完成会话序列，并使用多样化的修复策略；相比之下，得分较低学习者更常出现对前一话语的回应行动的延迟或错位，并更多依赖他人发起的修复。两组学习者在与对话者的互动中均出现话论重叠，但高分学习者的重叠更多用于协作性参与，而得分较低学习者的重叠则更常源于轮次转换的延迟。澄清性修复仅出现在高分学习者的互动中。与跨文化交际能力相关的行为体现在参与者在互动中对文化相关实践的关注与相应上，例如称呼方式或角色得体回应。研究结果表明，交际能力不仅仅体现在语法和发音层面，话轮与序列的管理也同样反映了参与者在互动过程中对互动性与跨文化情境的即时感知和应对。
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1IC and CA-for-SLA
    • 2.2IC and ICC
    • 2.3IC, ICC, CA, and Chinese as a Second Language
  • 3.Current study
    • 3.1Data collection
    • 3.2Data analysis
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Sequence organization
    • 4.2Turn-taking organization — nature of overlaps
    • 4.3Repair organization — troubleshooting strategies
      • 4.3.1Identification of problems
      • 4.3.2Other-initiated Repair in LS
      • 4.3.3Clarifications
  • 5.Discussions
    • 5.1Interactional engagement in student-teacher conversation
    • 5.2IC and ICC in turn management
    • 5.3IC, ICC, CA, and Chinese as a second language
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgment
  • Reference
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